Last Supper

discussed in biography

Leonardo’s Last Supper (1495–98) is among the most famous paintings in the world. In its monumental simplicity, the composition of the scene is masterful; the power of its effect comes from the striking contrast in the attitudes of the 12 disciples as counterposed to Christ. Leonardo portrayed a moment of high tension when, surrounded by the Apostles as they...

example of oil painting

The rapid deterioration of Leonardo’s 15th-century Last Supper (last restored 1978–99), which was painted in oils on plaster, possibly deterred artists from using the medium directly on a wall surface. And the likelihood of eventual warping also prohibited using the large number of braced wood panels required to make an alternative support for an extensive...

feature of Milan

...San Satiro, Sant’Eustorgio, San Lorenzo Maggiore, and San Babila. The former refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie is home to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, one of the most famous frescoes of the Renaissance. It was fully reopened to public view in 1999 after a lengthy, controversial restoration.

influence on Rembrandt

The artist with whom Rembrandt was most preoccupied during the second half of the 1630s was Leonardo da Vinci, and in particular his Last Supper (1495–98), which Rembrandt knew from a reproduction print. It is evident from several of Rembrandt’s sketched variants (1635) on Leonardo’s composition that he was above all intrigued by the problem of the...

place in Renaissance art

Leonardo’s attempts to transfer this new concept of painting to the difficult genre of murals led to the triumph and the tragedy of “The Last Supper” (see photograph). Because the traditional technique of fresco painting was too final for Leonardo’s method of working, he invented a new technique—still not fully understood—that permitted him to...